dear answer person,

usually i choose to ask you burning questions which have a deep impact on my understanding of the world, but this time it’s just a plain old complaint. about 2/3 of the time i try to access the duke catalog online, it fails to load, and i am left demoralized, frustrated, and downright angry. why is it that the catalog, which i would imagine is the library’s most valuable resource, is so often inaccessible over the internet?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Answer Person feels your pain, but knows not your ISP. AP seldom trouble getting into the online catalog from off campus, but all who are cursed with dial-up AOL accounts have been known to curse the slow response time, unable to handle the elegance and depth of the Duke Online Catalog (or GoDuke.com). Please consult with the Information Access Gurus at the Reference Desk; they will also feel your pain–they should be able to help ease it as well.

Why is it that patrons of the medical center library have to pay $5 for every interlibrary loan, when I can go over to Perkins and get them for free? Does it really cost $5 to copy and mail a 10-page article (average) here? Seems like the library could be making a good profit on those!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Answer Person can assure you that the Medical Center Library is not planning trips to the Caribbean with your ILL money. As they explain the situation, “Sounds like a good deal for the Medical Center Library doesn’t it? But national studies of ILL costs have shown that obtaining one interlibrary loan can cost well over $20 in staff time and other expenses for the local library. Even copying from our local collections runs well over $10 per article when you consider staff time, equipment, supplies and other costs. The funding models for Perkins and Medical Center Library are different since our budgets come from different sources and have separate administrative reporting lines. While Perkins has funding to subsidize the full cost of loans, the Medical Center Library has always had to generate revenues to cover at least a portion of its expenses for staff, equipment and our collection. Up to now MCL has subsidized a large portion of the fees charged by other libraries for photocopies and loans to Duke patrons. The really bad news is that due to budget cuts MCL will no longer be able to cover these expenses. While MCL will not charge the full cost of staff time and equipment, patrons will have to pay the full fee charged by lending libraries. As of July 1, MCL fees will probably be $11 per item, the standard national fee for health sciences libraries, for interlibrary loans.”

I suggest that the med center library stop using OVID for online subscriptions for journals. The database is terrible to search in, and doesn’t give PDF files- right now I am looking in the database for a paper that came out this month in Diabetes, but it doesn’t show up in OVID online!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The Medical Center Library responds:

The easy answer would be that the Medical Center Library loves to torture its patrons and increase its print income by making everyone print HTML files! But to really answer this we have to wander through the complexities of purchasing electronic full-text journals and what libraries must accept in order to obtain access to certain titles. As you read through this you also have to remember that the publisher still has the ultimate control over the format, date of release and the platform used for their titles. The library rarely has a say over any of these. First, it is difficult to eliminate all the journals on the Ovid system since many of the electronic titles are only available through the Ovid system. When possible, we have moved journals to other vendors, but for most of the remaining titles we do not have any other choice if we want the title in electronic format. Publishers also dictate to Ovid (and other distributors) the format and release date of the electronic version. Many publishers have not moved to PDF files due to concerns over controlling the sharing of PDF files and their copyright rights. Others still do not have the technology to offer the articles in another format. Many libraries have told Ovid they prefer the PDF format, but the publishers make the final decision. Remember Ovid does not own the content; they lease the right to make it available on their system. In addition, some publishers embargo the latest issue of a journal and do not release it to Ovid or any other vendor for several days, weeks or months–they want their print subscribers to receive it first. Even if they do not embargo it, Ovid has to wait to receive the article and then post it. Unfortunately publishers are not punctual about delivering content. These are some possible and fairly typical reasons why the issue of Diabetes was not online as quickly as you expected it. Finally, the interface is clunkier than some because you are searching through publications from several different publishers, instead of just one publisher, as in the case of Science Direct. Ovid has had to create an interface to accommodate many competing titles. Ovid also has to authenticate who has access to each title which makes their interface issues more complex than the collections where we have no choice but to buy it all. The advantage to Ovid is that the Library can buy only the titles it wants, but the search engine is less elegant. That is also why we recommend users begin their searches directly with MEDLINE, which has direct links to specific articles, and not through individual journal titles.

I suggest you purchase Greece, the Next 300 Years at

www.GreekFuture.com

Thanks

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I suggest you read the “Notice to members of the Duke community: Please make acquisitions suggestions at Consider purchasing this material for Perkins Library collections” on the Suggestion Book home page. Tells you how to suggest a purchase–and lets us know who to notify when it arrives.

The home page also has “Notice to publishers, booksellers, etc.: Please do not use the Suggestion Book for marketing your products,” so we wouldn’t have, for example, the author or publisher of “Greece” trying to use this as a way to sell the book. That wouldn’t be a good way to convince Collection Development to make the purchase–and it really, really irks Answer Person.

I just wanted to thank Tom Wall for his help dealing with an extremely frustrated Perkins user (namely, me). He calmed me down by being courteous, polite, and helpful throughout the whole transaction–and best of all, he helped me find an item that I could not locate.

THANKS!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: What a nice experience–and how thoughtful of you to pass on the comment. Answer Person will make sure Tom hears about this.

There is a placard on the chapel quad stating a specific purpose for the university. How did it get there, and why has it not been removed so far?
Cheers

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: When Duke University was established with the Duke Endowment in 1924, the charter of Trinity College (last amended in 1903) was rewritten–or at least the name of the institution. The plaque, given to the University in 1942 by the Order of Red Friars, a campus honorary society, contains the text as it appears as Article 1, AIMS, of the University Bylaws:

The aims of Duke University (“University”) are to assert a faith in the eternal union of knowledge and religion set forth in the teachings and character of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; to advance learning in all lines of truth; to defend scholarship against all false notions and ideals; to develop a Christian love of freedom and truth; to promote a sincere spirit of tolerance; to discourage all partisan and sectarian strife; and to render the largest permanent service to the individual, the state, the nation, and the church. Unto these ends shall the affairs of this University always be administered.

The Bylaws were last revised 5/21/2002, without any change to the AIMS.

So what you have there is a bit of history, not quite written in stone, but mounted in granite. Consider it an historical artifact, part of the heritage of this institution.

If you want to change the University Bylaws, you’ll have to take that up with the Board of Trustees.

Why is american pronunciation so bad? It irritates me. Do i need consuling?
gracias

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I can’t tell anything about pronunciation from your question, but the grammar and spelling are definitely in sad shape. You may need consoling for your irritation; and an editor for your writing. !De nada!

What is the greatest flavour of ice cream? Is it superman? Why doesnt duke have superman? Can you get it for us please?
Thank you.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The most popular flavor continues to be vanilla. I know, it goes with everything. Superman doesn’t even make the top 15–in fact, vanilla is more popular than everything else, past #2-#14, combined. Talk with the food service people–AP would like to try it.

Is marlon perkins still alive?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Marlon Perkins, the African American sculptor, died in 1961.

Marlin Perkins, host of Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom,” died in 1986.

They were not related.